To Touch the Stars (Founding of the Federation Book 2)

by Chris Hechtl

  “Wait, what are you here for? Levare?” Jamey asked, blinking dumbly at Levare.

  “You feeling all right, Jamey?” Levare asked. Levare was surprised about the young man's intent focus.

  “Um yeah.”

  “I was worried. I mean especially after Charlie's death. No one saw you at the memorial or anything. I thought you attended anonymously through the virtual link or something,” Levare said, cluing the young man in about Charlie's death.

  “Wait, Charlie's dead? What happened?” Shock coursed through Jamey. He tried to remember the past couple of days, but his mind was filled with equations, graphs, and simulations. Now everything came crashing down. “What the hell happened?”

  “Car accident,” Levare said. “You mean you didn't know?” Jamey shook his head. “Well then …” the older man then crossed his arms as he gently filled Jamey in. When he finished he shook his head. “So, what have you been doing this whole time? This?” he asked, waving a hand to the screen and models. Equations were scribbled on the wall Jamey loved to use. It was a virtual blackboard, really an LCD that allowed him to write on it when the need came to him.

  “Yeah,” Jamey said as he showed him. “As you know, Hannah put me on the idea. I started out wanting to prove her wrong, but well, the more I got into the concept, the more it grew on me. I honestly didn't think I'd get this deep though,” he said. He looked down at his shirt. He blinked in confusion when he realized it was a bit stiff. Apparently he'd worn it a while.

  “So, this wild idea …” Levare frowned thoughtfully. “It can actually work?”

  “Well, before it wouldn't work. We didn't have the right computer modeling, and we didn't have proper control and power for the emitters. Now we do. We can shape the field differently. Tighter, more efficient,” Jamey explained. He pulled up a rough CAD drawing he'd come up with of an emitter pod. Apparently he'd watched Charlie, Sheldon, and a few of the architects enough to emulate them. They'd probably scoff at the design, but Levare could see the potential. Sketching it out would also give them … he frowned bleakly as he reminded himself Charlie was gone … but it would give Sheldon something to go off of. Something more than raw equations and graphs.

  Levare nodded. “Ah, I see,” he finally said.

  “And it can cut down on resources needed to make the ship. It'll let us go into the higher bands too!”

  “The powers that be always like cost cutting. Still …” Levare made a face. “Kid, I don't want to discourage you, but you've got to focus on your ship. Either that or give it up to your understudy.”

  “Damn,” Jamey muttered, realizing Levare was right. He checked his schedule and sucked in his breath. He'd missed two meetings and one training session with the engineering crew. Not good. A quick cursory check in his electronic inbox found dozens of e-mails from people, some about Charlie, others asking where the heck was he. He winced again. Levare nodded. “I …” he ran a frustrated hand through his hair. Finally he looked at Levare. “Charlie really is dead?”

  “Yeah, afraid so,” Levare said with a sympathetic nod.

  Jamey's face fell. He scrubbed at his face, unsure what to do. “Damn. I was going to say I'd run the concept past him. Structure wise I mean,” he finally said lamely. He felt like a total heel. He'd miss the old bear, but wasn't sure where to go, what to do now.

  “I know. I'll take what you've got and run it through the sims and our people. The ship architects will have a snit over the design.”

  “I think it'll grow on them. If I'm on to something, and I'm pretty sure I am, we could refit the design and make the ships ten times more efficient. It'll make having boat bays and airlocks easier too. Hell, it'll fix a lot of issues. Though we may need to have a couple really big squid arms with powerful emitters to really poke a hole into hyper …”

  “Not that again,” Levare said in disgust, rolling his eyes. “You just liked the look I bet.”

  “No, no, it worked. But you have to have the emitters remain stationary as the ship passes through in their arch. I modeled it remember? It was the most efficient, but Charlie and you knocked it down …”

  “Because the armatures are a major headache. If a servo sticks or something fritzes up, the ship is screwed,” Levare said. “You have to plug Murphy in kid,” he said in despair.

  “Oh, right,” Jamey said, making a face.

  “Send me what you've got, I'll chew it over with the crew,” Levare said. “And see that you send something to Shannon. She deserves a ‘hey, I'm sorry’ you know. The kids too,” he said.

  “I will,” Jamey said. “I'm just not sure what to say. Or how to say it. To lose him …” He shook his head as he pulled up the news brief about Charlie.

  “Yeah, I know, it sucks. We all need to be careful. I mean, I know the old goof was a good driver but still,” Levare shook his head.

  Jamey made a face as he got up. He walked around his desk and then and leaned against it, crossing his arms. “I don't buy that. Charlie was a damn good driver. Sure he took risks. But I know he didn't tamper with the safety gear or computer; he knew better.” He shook his head. “Besides,” he admitted. “I know he was uncomfortable trying to figure out how to turn the computer's safety features on and off. If he could. Was it his car?”

  “Yes. A Chevy 1955 I heard. He restored it with his dad as a kid. Updated it too with the computer like you mentioned,” Levare said.

  “Well, if it was that old, I don't know …” Jamey said, rubbing his temple. “If memory serves they didn't come out with the computer drivers until 2012. And they didn't become an industrial standard until 2020 I think.”

  “So it could be his fault?”

  “I just don't know,” Jamey admitted. He shrugged helplessly. “I wasn't there. But if it's the 55 … the blue one?” Levare nodded. Jamey rocked back a bit, frowning thoughtfully. He searched his memory until he found the answer he sought. What he found bothered him. He had an uneasy feeling. “He did update that. The new electric engine required the computer with the full blown safety features. I remember. He bitched about the cost and how he'd had to pay someone to add the sensors, servos, and controls. Finding room under the hood wasn't a problem, but he gassed on about how it was sacrilege to butcher the frame and body by cutting out the holes for the sensors. I know it worked too because he complained about it.”

  “So …”

  “So, it makes me wonder what happened. Hopefully someone is looking into it.”

  “Sometimes accidents do happen. It's just one of those things we'll have to accept,” Levare said.

  “Yeah,” Jamey said, not sounding like he fully agreed, but humoring the older man. “How is his family?”

  Levare sighed. “Taking it hard.”

  “I'll send them something. You said I missed the memorial?” Levare nodded. “Damn.” Jamey sighed again. “Look, I'm headed groundside to see Dad and Hannah tomorrow. Want me to print up a card for everyone to sign?”

  Levare frowned. “A sympathy card?” Jamey nodded. “It might be a good idea. So they know we all feel for them and will miss him.”

  “Okay,” Jamey said softly. He turned and touched a button on his tablet and then made a note. “There, done.”

  “Okay. You all packed?” Levare asked. Jamey shrugged. Levare snorted and shook his head. “Typical.”

  “Well, it's not like I need a lot. Overnight bag. I'm only going for the holiday weekend. Shuttle hop. It took a lot to get Trey to agree to this in the first place.”

  “Well, have fun. Be glad he hasn't canceled it because you missed so much,” Levare said. Jamey nodded.

  “It's Hannah. I'm going to come back bruised just from the hugs,” Jamey chuckled as they headed for the door. Levare snorted. “I'll get the card going in a sec,” Jamey said.

  “Good. I'll look for it,” Levare said. “In the meantime, enjoy your holiday weekend. I'm going to go do some virtual skiing and attend a couple seminars on a virtual beach,” Levare said.

  “Love
ly. Program in a nude beach?” Jamey teased.

  Levare looked at the younger man and then snorted. “Hell, I would but they make the user go nude too, and I'm too body shy. I'm old with a flabby body.” He patted his midriff. “Hell if I'm going to let some stacked gal see that,” he said, shaking his head.

  “Well, the gym is the solution for that,” Jamey chuckled. “Or playing handball like Trey and I do. Or taking a fat burner.”

  “Pass,” Levare said with a wave. “Too much sweating for me. And the fat burner is pure agony on the digestive system. You end up glued to the toilet for days and then you have flabby skin since it does nothing about that. No thank you,” he said shaking his head. Jamey smiled and shook his head ruefully as well as Levare left with a backwards wave.

  He was glad the other man had stopped by, but now he felt maudlin. He sat down again behind his desk and looked at the framed portrait of the design team on the wall. He sighed and pulled up an image of Charlie. He rubbed his temples. He'd miss the old goat, he thought sorrowfully. He pulled up the card design program, all thoughts of his previous project temporarily forgotten.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  Athena hacked the police files at Roman's insistence. She found Descartes electronic finger prints all over some of the firewalls. She informed Roman, but he wasn't ready to take her word for it. When Elliot one of Trevor's cyber investigators confirmed the glyph, he was ready to believe.

  Jack was briefed by Athena about the investigation and its initial conclusions. The investigating detective was clearly certain it was foul play, but the order from his chain of command directing him to classify it as a DUI and close the case bothered him enough to have spoken with the family. Charlie's family were firm when they stated he didn't drink and drive, and he certainly didn't drink at 8 a.m.! Nor did the autopsy backup any alcohol. The lab reports had, but when the detective tried to find the lab tech who had run the test, he'd run up a blank, There was no such person, which just stank to high heaven.

  Jack was disturbed when he found out it hadn't been reported to his people or to the media. Levare Saint Joy had found out through contacts with the Dugan family. The rumor of a cover-up awoke all sorts of alarm bells. He had Athena double check that Charlie was indeed dead, that it wasn't a hoax or faked death masquerading as a kidnapping or something else. When he was done reading Athena's initial report, he frowned and noted there was one glaring omission from someone on his own team.

  He called Roman. “Boss, I'm sorry; I should have seen it coming,” Roman said. “I was on my way to a face to face with you, honest,” he said as he interrupted him before he could drop into a rant. Jack listened as Roman with loathing in his voice kicked himself for not seeing the possibility of assassination sooner. Roman was a good man he reminded himself; he did care about the people he was duty bound to watch over.

  “We're going to pick up where the investigator left off. I'm sending in our own people with some groundside PIs in the area who know the players. I've got Athena looking for video of the crash as well as the car. Someone had to have tampered with it somehow,” Roman said as he laid out a plan.

  “Good start,” Jack said. “Why the PIs again?”

  “Because we don't have any of our own people that know the area, and I want to hit the ground running,” Roman said, “not take the time to get them up to speed. The PIs know the people involved and can cut through a hell of a lot of red tape. I'm also fully aware of your policy of hitting back so I've turned my security people and computer hackers loose on it. It's been a couple days though, so the case has gone cold. Whoever did it …”

  “What you're doing is important but that's just like locking the door after the horses escaped,” Jack said. Roman agreed with a grunt. “We need to be proactive. To take this a step further. As my mom said, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Which means we need to cancel leave groundside for important scientists and engineers. Anyone we think is vital we need to keep them up here,” he ordered, “where we can keep an eye on them. And send out warnings to those already on the ground, especially ground installations.”

  “Okay …” Roman drawled. “That's not going to make us popular you know.”

  “We're not in this to be popular. I'll accept some division as long as they are alive to bitch about it,” Jack said. Roman snorted. “Less bitching though, more working the problem. Someone out there killed my people. We need to be on the lookout for them, watching to make sure they don't get a second crack at our people and assembling a strike team to take them down.”

  “Mister Lagroose, it is already too late to cancel leaves. It is a holiday weekend, and our people are already in transit groundside,” Athena pointed out.

  “Anyone on the top ten critical list?” Roman asked.

  That was how they found out about Jamey Castill's last planned trip to the ground. Jamey had already left on his planned holiday trip. Interrupting it would cause suspicion and a lot of unwanted attention.

  Roman put an additional discrete security detail on Jamey when he was overruled on bringing the young man up. He also had security hackers and Athena watch Jamey in real time through video and computer feeds. “You are not concerned about his privacy? This is a major invasion of his privacy. The young man has his pride,” Athena stated.

  “Jamey had signed an agreement understanding we could do this at any time without his consent,” Roman said flatly.

  “But still, shouldn't he be warned that someone is hunting him? He may be endangering his family. It might be prudent. It may also convince him to come up spoiling any plans to kill or kidnap him,” Athena pointed out.

  “No. he's bait. I don't like it, but the boss said he can stay and play. Fine. We'll use that. I don't like it, but we'll make the most of it.”

  “And if someone gets through all your precautions?” Athena asked softly.

  “You sound upset, almost human,” Roman said, looking up in concern.

  “Jamey is a good member of the Lagroose Company. I am concerned what impact his loss will have on production,” Athena stated, making her voice change to a more robotic tone. Roman frowned thoughtfully.

  “No, we'll stay the course,” he finally said.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  Hannah had dived into medicine in her initial course load and loved it. She wanted to get into the space program but was shocked when she her application was initially rejected. Due to her brother's request, it was sent for a second review, and she was accepted on a probationary basis.

  Jamey swung by the campus to pick up Hannah on his way home from the space port. Since he had some time, he looked up some of his old professors. He was shocked and dismayed when he found out his former physics teacher Professor Walkins had been pushed out by the administration when he toured the campus. Rumor had it her favoritism of space had killed her career. She hadn't gotten a job with any other college. She'd been reduced to teaching in a crummy high school.

  When they left the campus, Jamey checked his sister. She didn't say anything until they got home and slung their bags into their rooms. “Okay, out with it kiddo,” he said to her. “Dad's not due in for a few, spill,” he ordered.

  “It's just …” she sighed and it came out. She was a bit put out over her older brother's actions and how she was constantly being compared to him. She didn't like living in his shadow but didn't like not getting the same results when she insisted on going her own path.

  Jamey listened to the griping and then cocked his head. “Ready to listen? You keep saying no one is listening to you, I just did. My turn.”

  She grimaced. He raised an eyebrow. Finally she nodded slowly. “Okay, here goes. You wanted in right?” She nodded again. “Your problem, little sis, not just the ungrateful bit, was that you chose medicine. Now, if you'd stuck to engineering like I did, you would have been a shoe in.”

  She shook her head. “I'm not a tinkerer. I like medicine,” she said lifting her chin. “I can do it, but I like fixing people over fixing elec
tronics.”

  He chuckled. “I know that. But if you want to prove your worth, diversify. You've got the associates in engineering, broaden it. Focus on medical engineering if you have to. Cybernetics? Stasis? Prosthetics? Medical equipment? All good fields. You've got the family brains; use them to plot a strategy. Work with your counselor. Remember, the objective is to get your foot in the door. Once you have an in, you do your probation time and then transfer when a position comes up. They always float new positions to be filled internally first before they pitch it outside the company.”

  “I'll … think about it.” She scowled and looked away.

  “You are as stubborn and pig headed as the day is long kiddo. Remember, you aren't going to start at the top. Entry level at best. Keep that firmly in mind,” he said. He could see the signs that she was getting upset and was no longer willing to listen so he changed tactics. “Whatever,” Jamey said shaking his head. She looked up, a little hurt that he'd given up so easily. “Follow your heart then.” He poked her in the chest, or tried to. She did a good job of dodging it. “Just don't expect it to line up with your head.”

  “I'd like get into genetics a bit, not just the hands-on stuff,” she admitted. “I heard Lagroose is into that,” she said eying her brother and then her father.

  Jamey looked at her solemnly. “Not my field. And even if it was, NDA and stuff,” he said shaking his head mournfully.

  “Oh come on, you and I both know Mrs. Lagroose is a doctor! She cut that deal with her husband. There are all sorts of rumors floating around the web about what they are doing with all those animals. You know it's not a private zoo!”

  “I don't know anything, kiddo. And even if I did, I can't talk about it. If you want to know more, you need to get with the program. Remember your counselor is trying to help.”

  She made a face. “She's trying to help all right. She's trying to steer me into a groundside job with the college. Teaching.”